Welcome to "Stay Strong" - a site devoted to sharing and inspiring "Strength" in others and in ourselves! Strength of Spirit, Strength of Mind, Strength of Soul and Strength of Body! PLEASE pass this site onto others in need of Strength and Inspiration!

Tuesday, July 31, 2012

"When any situation arises which tempts you to become disturbed, say: "There is another way of looking at this." - A Course In Miracles

How we look at any situation, challenge, or obstacle will dictate the outcome and results for us.

There is always another perspective to any and all issues that can lead to a favorable resolution.

If you hate your job, do not focus on that angle, but look at it as an opportunity to start fresh and anew!

Out of work or in a bad relationship? Shift your perspective and focus on the SOLUTION instead of dwelling on the current state!!

Take Action!! Any action in the right direction will help!!

Set a goal and do not give up on that goal no matter the walls or hurdles you hit!!

When you feel down or lost, ask yourself "is there another way to approach or look at this problem?"

There is always another and better way to look at any matter or issue and if we can discipline ourselves to immediately look at the positive perspective, the ACTION angle, the SOLUTION, we will reach the goal and control our own happiness and joy!!

Try it.... It works!!

The storm is almost over and the sun is about to shine... just stay focused on that, not the passing rough seas, wind and rain!!!

Monday, July 30, 2012

"The wise man in the storm prays God, not for safety from danger, but for deliverance from fear.

It is the storm within which endangers him, not the storm without." - Ralph Waldo Emerson

So much of what we experience in our lives really hinges upon how we react to external circumstances.

Think about sports figures who are lauded for their "cool as a cucumber" performance under pressure.

The basketball player on the free throw line with the championship literally on the line who sinks the shots "with ice in his veins".

Or a hero police officer who reacts and saves innocent lives because he or she "let cooler heads prevail" and took the necessary steps.

It is not the things that happen to us externally that shape the quality and results in our daily lives, but HOW we react to these outside circumstances that dictates how great or miserable our existence is going to be on this planet!

Fear paralyzes us and if we can conquer our fears via our FAITH that we are exactly where we are supposed to be at any given moment, we can handle ANYTHING that is thrown at us!!!!

Replace fear with Faith and great things happen to us, we see the world and opportunities much clearer and through grateful eyes!!

Trust, Hope and Faith!!!! This triumvirate, if we can embrace and truly live in them, will deliver us all from any fear and undoubtedly set us on the path to Peace, Joy, and Happiness!!!

How can it not?

And WE control it if we believe it!!

Stop worrying about the current or next storm - as it will inevitably arrive - but pray for deliverance from fear through Faith and all will be ok!!!

Sunday, July 29, 2012

"One who has any faith in God should be ashamed to worry about anything whatsoever." - Mohandas (Mahatma) Gandhi

I love this quote as it succinctly hits the entire point and concept of Faith.

I remember as a child trying to prove to my parents that I was maturing and becoming a responsible person and being so aggravated when they would not trust or have faith that I could do a task, or carry out their instructions because of my age.

The same must hold true for God when you think about it.

Here we have our whole religion as Christians based almost entirely on Faith that we can trust God has our backs, has a plan based on His will that is best for us, and that He is Our Father who will protect us.

So if we truly believe this, how can any of us waste a single second worrying or anxious about anything that happens to us during our time on this planet??

How disappointed God must be with us when we discount His protection, His will, His plan for us by making ourselves sick with worry and fear and anxiety as if He is powerless or absent from our troubles!

What an insult that must be to Him!

Next time you find yourself worrying about some challenge or phase or issue in your life, take a second and draw on our Faith that it is happening for a reason and trust that God has a plan, that He has our backs, and that to worry or fret is a complete waste of time!!

How liberating and freeing is it to KNOW that someone else you can trust will handle this issue??!!!

Pray? Yes. Worry? No way!! Why?? God has our backs even if we cannot see it and as I constantly try to teach my son and daughter, ask yourself, "what is the worst that can come of my current worry"?

The answer is normally more manageable than you may think!!

Stay Strong --- these storms will surely pass and we will always make it safely to the other side of the lake - Better for the experience and Stronger for the Faith in God!!!

Thursday, July 19, 2012

The greatest obstacles to inner peace are disturbing emotions such as anger, attachment, fear and suspicion, while love and compassion and a sense of universal responsibility are the sources of peace and happiness."

- Dalai Lama

Another terrific quote that highlights what is necessary in our journey toward obtaining inner peace and joy!

We have seen so many different examples of this concept from so many diverse thinkers and philosophers!

But getting to that place take a great effort and it takes tremendous FAITH in the outcome!

Believe it and you will see it!!!

If you want it badly enough, and have an idea of what will get it for you, then take those necessary steps today!!!!

Thursday, July 12, 2012

A terrific and special family friend shared some "Random Thoughts" with us today..and I have to share them with you!!

The words speak for themselves for anyone struggling with the question of "Why?"

Truly amazing perspective and insight!!! Enjoy

"Some random thoughts coming your way.

What a difference in a week.

Life spins on a dime and then you don't know if you're heads up or tails down.

When that dime stops spinning we remind ourselves to tell those closest to us that we love them, we pause when a clerk is nasty when "serving" us and take a moment to think that maybe they're going through some life changing event not of of their own doing but as dictated by circumstance.

We go into a tunnel, for protection and for focused vision never really understanding how the world can go on when ours is changing forever.

Once the battle lines have been drawn, we go into overdrive trying to change the end result with the misconception that we are in charge at the end of the day.

That is when our focus is lost because it is not our will in the long run, it is God's.

For all the teachings of our faith reinforced by a Mom and Dad and backed up by those we've met along the way, it will be our hearts connection to those we have loved and lost, but who have remained in heaven's embrace, that pull us through the days ahead.

Saturday, July 7, 2012

"Don't let your prayer be a fight against reality. And the first reality you've got is yourself, and that's where prayer begins.

It begins with you and you don't have to go from you to God, because God is in you.

All you've got to do is to stay where you are.

You don't have to get out of this "base, earthly being" which you are and climb Jacob's ladder and get way up in heaven where God is, because if you do that, you'll never pray.

You couldn't pray.

You have to start where you are and stay with it, because God is in you as you are, and doesn't expect you to be any other than you are, except that there is a change that God is going to make in your life.

But you have to learn how to get together with God in your life so that this change can be made.

-—Thomas Merton transcribed from a talk he gave on a spring morning in 1963 to the novices at Loretto motherhouse. Taken from from "Hidden in the Same Mystery - Thomas Merton and Loretto," p. 25 from the Talk of Father Louis to Novices and Postulants, May 15, 1963

Friday, July 6, 2012

We all have a reason in our minds to stay in bed every morning and give up the good fight!!

That would be very easy to do and many people choose this route at times!

However, we all MUST fight off that feeling of being overwhelmed and despair and keep an eye on the big picture goal here.

If we can just remind ourselves daily that life here is so much more than our own little issues and challenges and that we have a purpose and a mission to fulfill, we would be able to rise off the mat and get back on our feet easily!!!

The only goal when life knocks you down or hits you with a haymaker is to gather yourself, get back on your feet and ENDURE!!!!

Persevere!!!!

Like Sly Stallone in Rocky, the secret to success is to just put your head down and keep moving forward!!!!

Take the punches with a smile and have FAITH that you will get through any and every battle!!

Do not quit..do not despair....do not give in to the easy temptation to just roll over and let the waves wash you away!!

You may not know it, but every one of us have many people pulling for us - people who need us in that good fight!!!

We need you in that battle!!!

So meet the bell, shake off the feeling of defeat and get back into the fray with the rest of us!!!!

Endurance and Perseverance are within our control ...and ALL we need to succeed!!!!!!

So soldier on!!! Success, peace and joy are imminent - they are right around the corner!!!

Wednesday, July 4, 2012

"All the great things are simple, and many can be expressed in a single word:

Freedom, Justice, Honor, Duty, Mercy, Hope."

- Winston Churchill

Freedom is one inalienable right that we in this still great but struggling country take for granted every day.

Pause today and give thanks to those brave and determined souls who brought this right to us, and died to gain it for a nation.

And say a prayer at some point today for those brave and courageous souls who today still put their very lives on the line for all of us to preserve that right as we barbeque and enjoy our loved ones under the very blanket of freedom that they provide to us.

Let us remember these special and selfless men and wowen - past and present - as the fireworks illuminate the sky and we celebrate that indefinable spirit of life, liberty and freedom today!!

Tuesday, July 3, 2012

"I offer you peace. I offer you love. I offer you friendship. I see your beauty. I hear your need. I feel your feelings. My wisdom flows from the Highest Source. I salute that Source in you. Let us work together for unity and love. - Mohandas (Mahatma) Gandhi

Get your STAY STRONG T-SHIRT!!

These ten great inspirational sayings about life come from diverse cultures and times. These sayings of inspiration represent the thread of enlightenment and compassion that has always run through the greatest among us, and are, to me, the best of the best.

This above all, to thine own self be true.- William Shakespeare

Everything has beauty, but not everyone sees it.- Confucius

Happiness depends upon ourselves.- Aristotle

A good traveler has no fixed plans, and is not intent on arriving.- Lao Tsu

If you want others to be happy, practice compassion. If you want to be happy, practice compassion.- Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th Dalai Lama

All things share the same breath - the beast, the tree, the man... the air shares its spirit with all the life it supports.- Chief Seattle

Every child comes with the message that God is not yet discouraged of man.- Rabindranath Tagore

Lord, make me an instrument of thy peace.- St Francis of Assisi

There are no facts, only interpretations.- Friedrich Nietzsche

There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle.- Albert Einstein

Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.- Martin Luther King, Jr.

Life is no brief candle to me. It is a sort of splendid torch which I have got a hold of for the moment, and I want to make it burn as brightly as possible before handing it on to future generations.- George Bernard Shaw

We must be willing to get rid of the life we've planned,so as to have the life that is waiting for us. The old skin has to be shed before the new one can come.- Joseph Campbell

The cave you fear to enter holds the treasure you seek.- Joseph Campbell

Life is either a daring adventure or nothing.- Helen Keller

Life is an exciting business, and most exciting when it is lived for others.- Helen Keller

Life is a succession of lessons which must be lived to be understood.- Helen Keller

Life may not be the party we hoped for, but while we are here we might as well dance. - Anonymous

Life is really simple, but we insist on making it complicated.- Confucius

Nothing in life is to be feared, it is only to be understood. Now is the time to understand more, so that we may fear less.- Marie Curie

Life is a long lesson in humility.- James M. Barrie

Believe that life is worth living and your belief will help create the fact.- William James

Life is what happens while you are busy making other plans.- John Lennon

No one knows what he can do until he tries.- Publilius Syrus

As we light a path for others, we naturally light our own way.- Mary Anne Radmacher

There are no facts, only interpretations.- Friedrich Nietzsche

The purpose of our lives is to be happy.- Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th Dalai Lama

I slept and dreamt that life was joy. I awoke and saw that life was service. I acted and behold, service was joy.- Rabindranath Tagore

To go against the dominant thinking of your friends, of most of the people you see every day, is perhaps the most difficult act of heroism you can perform.- Theodore H. White

Life is not about waiting for the storms to pass... It's about learning how to dance in the rain.- Vivian Green

I love you not only for what you are, but for what I am when I am with you.I love you not only for what you have made of yourself, but for what you are making of me. I love you for that part of me you bring out.- Roy Croft

I love you when you bow in your mosque, kneel in your temple, pray in your church. For you and I are sons of one religion, and it is the Spirit.- Kahlil Gibran

Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that.Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.- Martin Luther King, Jr.

Where there is great love there are always miracles.- Willa Cather

Lord, grant that I might not so much seek to be loved as to love.- St. Francis of Assisi